First theorized some sixty years ago by astronomer Fritz Zwicky, this "missing" or "invisible" matter was believed to reside within clusters of spiraling galaxies. Scientists believe that the amount of "visible" matter in the universe is not enough to account for the tremendous gravitational forces around us. Research suggests that dark matter may be Jupiter-sized objects, black holes, and/or unimagined "exotic" forms of matter.
This means, in other words, that most of the universe's matter does not radiate-it provides no glow or light that we can detect. What is "dark matter"?Īfter observing the motions of galaxies and the expansion of the universe for the past five decades, most astronomers believe that as much as ninety percent of the material in the universe may be objects or particles that cannot be seen. One of my goals with this introduction is to explain why I have chosen to use "dark matter" as a metaphor to discuss the speculative fiction of black writers and their contributions to the science fiction genre.
In Day of Absence, a highly satiric play, Ward doesn't give Clem, Luke, his audience, or his readers any explanation however, I think one could say that for a brief moment, Rastus and the other black townspeople were "dark matter."ĭark' mat"er- n: a nonluminous form of matter which has not been directly observed but whose existence has been deduced by its gravitational effects. In an article that appeared in the New York Times shortly after the Day of Absence debut, Obie Award–winner Douglas Turner Ward described himself as "a Negro playwright committed to examining the contours, context, and depth of his experiences from an unfettered, imaginative Negro angle of vision." 2 With these goals in mind, it is interesting that he would choose as his first play to write a speculative work that centers on black absence. When asked of his whereabouts, he "don't rightly know." Before the curtain falls, Rastus shuffles away with a slight smile on his lips, leaving Clem and Luke to search alone for answers. When the first black returns twenty-four hours later, he is unaware of the chaos his absence has caused. The mayor mobilizes the Citizens Emergency Distress Committee in a vain effort to calm his nameless town-now paralyzed without its black labor force. The only ones remaining are the sick and shut-in, the ones who cannot work. Then Clem speaks, the "something" slowly dawning on him. As time passes on this hot summer day, Clem becomes curious, then alarmed. On a sparse stage, under a sign marked STORE, Clem and Luke exchange pleasantries. I NTRODUCTION: L OOKING FOR THE I NVISIBLEĮarly one morning, in a fictitious Southern town, the residents are frightened by what they cannot see.
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